Tuesday, February 26, 2008

I love getting new toys. Thanks to our friend Nancy in Dallas, she inspired me this weekend to go out and purchase this new toy. We've been wanting to cut back on our eating out....however....I don't have enough time to cook!!! When I do cook, things get wasted because the sit in the refrigerator too long. So here we go! I bought the Seal A Meal vacuum food storage system. I really am highly impressed with it. So...today I made a Salad. A BIG SALAD!!! So what do I do now??? I need to seal and save it. Let me tell you...this salad was big enough to feed 10 people. Now, it fits in one of our cereal bowls! This was a nice big puffy, fluffy salad! Chad said he has the feeling he is going to come home and the entire refrigerator will be sealed up! He may be right!

Monday, February 25, 2008

What do you praise Him for each day? How do you proclaim it? It's such an awesome feeling to know that there is a God that can hear my cries, my pleas, my heart, my whispers, my laughter, and my shouting! Shout to the Lord is one of my favorite songs this year. It speaks of such passion....such heart...such power....such awesome praise to Him. It's a pretty amazing feeling when a song hits you so had that it leaves you gasping for air. This song is such a prayer and testment. If you stopped by here today, let this song be an encouragement in your heart as much as it is in my mine.

My Jesus, my Savior, Lord, there is none like You;All of my days I want to praise the wonders of Your mighty love.My comfort, my shelter, tower of refuge and strength;Let ev'ry breath, all that I am, never cease to worship You.

ChorusShout to the Lord, all the earth, let us singPower and Majesty, praise to the King;Mountains bow down and the seas will roarAt the sound of Your name.I sing for joy at the work of your hands,Forever I'll love You, forever I'll standNothing compares to the promise I have in You.

Monday, February 18, 2008

I have found myself working my fingers to the bone. Hitting deadlines, coming in just under the wire and staying up until all hours of the night. As I try to find time of peacful rest, I find myself waking up worried about what I did wrong, what I did right, did I leave anything out, and then I must get up. Average amount of sleep for me these days is 4 hours. I sit in a chair and rarely ever get up. Before I know it, today has turned into tomorrow. It's crazy I tell ya! ;o)

As I was rushing into school early this morning to hit the deadline, I thought to myself, what if we gave this kind of commitment to everything we did? Our family, our jobs, our friends, our lives, our God. Would we tire easily? Would we have enough of it to go around?

I find myself trying to prioritize my life and time and making room for the things that are important to me. Some things, I've had to give up. Some things, I've cut back on. Learning to say yes and learning to say no is something I have started doing well. And I don't feel bad either. It's starting to come naturally.

I think God has shown me just how much I can handle. Now it's up to me to decide what I will do with my time. Using it wisely and using it to His glory is all that matters.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

One group I really love is Casting Crowns. Today, I was listening to the radio...and a song I've heard over and over before came on. I've liked it before, but it really touches my heart right now in a way that is unexplainable.

"Praise You In This Storm"

I was sure by nowGod You would have reached downAnd wiped our tears awayStepped in and saved the dayBut once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining

As the thunder rollsI barely hear Your whisper through the rain"I'm with you"And as Your mercy fallsI raise my hands and praise the God who givesAnd takes away

And I'll praise You in this stormAnd I will lift my handsFor You are who You areNo matter where I amAnd every tear I've criedYou hold in Your handYou never left my sideAnd though my heart is tornI will praise You in this storm

I remember whenI stumbled in the windYou heard my cry to youAnd you raised me up againMy strength is almost goneHow can I carry onIf I can't find You

But as the thunder rollsI barely hear You whisper through the rain"I'm with you"And as Your mercy fallsI raise my hands and praise the God who givesAnd takes away

I lift my eyes unto the hillsWhere does my help come from?My help comes from the LordThe Maker of Heaven and Earth

Monday's are rough days. They are long and drawn out. It's easy to get frustrated with life by 5:00 on Monday's but sometimes we just have to roll with the punches and keep going.

I've been sick since Friday, but really, really, sick since Sunday afternoon. Seems that life and illness caught up with me and told me to slow down. It has a funny way of doing that. When you least expect it, it knocks you down.

My mother was the store this weekend with Ian. While they were there, Ian saw one of his teachers from school. Today, I got an e-mail that read "I saw Ian at the store with his Aunt...she looks just like you"I couldn't wait to pay my mom that compliment. She loved it!

Life has been difficult lately, but I will not give up or give in. I just pick myself up and keep going. It's been an interesting ride. Life...is good. *******************************************************************************Give to every day There will always be a reason to give up, and there will always be a reason to keep going. The question is, which reason will you choose to focus upon?Your troubles will get the best of you if you give all your time and attention to them. But you always have another choice.

You can give your attention to the positive possibilities. You can choose to focus upon what's right with life.

There is something you can do in this very moment to create a little bit of positive value in your world. Though it may not seem like much, just one small positive action can have an enormous impact.

Even the smallest step has a clear and unmistakable direction. When you choose to take action, you choose to take control.

Don't allow your life to be defined by the difficulties that come your way. For beyond them all, you have something unique and beautiful to give to every day.

Tech Support: No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off?

Customer: I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?

Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been completely erased.

Customer: Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?

Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades.

Customer: Oops! I have an error message already. It says, "Error - Program not run on external components." What should I do?

Tech Support: Don't worry. It means that the Love program is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.

Customer: So, what should I do?

Tech Support: Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge Your Limitations.

Customer: Okay, done.

Tech Support: Now, copy them to the "My Heart" directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.

Customer: Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?

Tech Support: Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.